Search Category: Sales Tax

Laws and Rules for Grocers

Learn more about grocery sales:

Learn more about Idaho tax statutes 

Learn more about our Rules 

Food, Meals, and Drinks

This guide explains Idaho sales and use tax law for furnishing, preparing, or serving food, meals or drinks.

Basics Guide

Basics Guide

Sales Price

Sales Price

Coupons

Coupons

Exempt Sales

Exempt Sales

Exempt Uses

Exempt Uses

Food and Admissions

Selling them together

Admissions

Buying Goods Exempt

Buying Goods

Recordkeeping

Recordkeeping

Laws and Rules

Laws and Rules

Grocers

Grocers are retailers who are primarily involved in selling food for home preparation and consumption.

Basics Guide

Basics Guide

Sales

You must charge
tax on most sales

Sales

Coupons

Customers often use coupons, vouchers or gift cards to pay their bill

Coupons

Buying

Some of the items you purchase for your business are exempt from sales tax

Buying

Recordkeeping

How to keep records for grocers

Recordkeeping

Laws and Rules

Laws and rules
for grocers

Laws and Rules

Lodging: Basics Guide

This guide explains Idaho sales and use, Travel and Convention, and auditorium district tax laws for hotels, motels and other businesses that provide lodging in Idaho. It describes:

  • How to charge your customers tax
  • When to pay tax on goods you buy to operate your business
  • How owners of short-term rentals and vacation rentals comply with these laws

Businesses that provide accommodations for a fee must charge sales tax when renting out lodging for 30 days or less. “Providing accommodations” means renting one or more temporary places to use or occupy.

Businesses that provide accommodations to the public include:

  • Hotels
  • Motels
  • Resorts
  • Bed and breakfasts
  • Campgrounds and RV parks*
  • Cabins*
  • Vacation homes*
  • Private residences*

*Including individuals who rent their home or property, such as a field, for money or barter

This guide refers to these businesses as “lodging providers.”

Lodging: Types of Tax Due

These taxes only apply when you provide a rental for 30 days or less.

Taxes you forward to the Tax Commission

You might need to charge one or more of these taxes:

This chart shows which taxes are due for specific lodging types:

Accommodation TypeIdaho Sales TaxTravel & Convention TaxAuditorium District Tax
Sleeping room at a hotel, motel or resortYesYesYes
Meeting room at any lodging providerYesNoYes
Bed & BreakfastYesYesYes
Overnight spaces in campgrounds or RV parks that an Idaho government agency owns or operatesYesNoNo
Overnight spaces in campgrounds or RV parks that any other provider operates (other than the federal government)YesYesNo
Day-use spaces in any campgroundYesNoNo
CabinYesYesYes
Vacation homeYesYesYes
Private residenceYesYesYes

Other charges and amenities

The fee to rent lodging can include additional property and services. See this list of taxes you must charge for each:  

pdf Common additional charges for property and services 

You forward all of these taxes to the Tax Commission.

Taxes local governments collect

You might need to charge local taxes and forward them to the local governments that administer them. See “Local Sales Tax” for more information.

Loyalty and rewards programs

You might need to charge customers tax on the value of a free room if you have a loyalty or rewards program that gives them free nights. The “value” is the amount the customer would have paid for the room.

Charge room taxes* on the value of the free room if both of these are true:

  • A third party administers your rewards program.
  • Customers can pay for nights with points earned through credit card purchases, by buying points directly from the third party, or by other means.

Don’t charge room taxes on the free night if both of these are true:

  • You administer your own rewards program.
  • You can clearly document that the customer received a free night of lodging as a reward for staying “x” number of nights.

Also, don’t charge room taxes if the free night applies to a stay that qualifies for an exemption (e.g., it’s part of a continuous stay longer than 30 days). However, you must document the stay as an exemption.

* “Room taxes” include sales tax, travel and convention tax, and any auditorium district tax that applies to your area.

Lodging: Short-term Rental Marketplaces

“Short-term rentals” and “vacation rentals” are residences rented for a fee for 30 days or less. This is a rental of lodging, and it’s typically handled in one of two ways:

  • Customers arrange short-term and vacation rentals through a third party that the owner hires to market and arrange the rentals. This third party is known as a “short-term rental marketplace.” Short-term rental marketplaces are responsible for collecting all taxes due on the lodging.
  • Customers arrange short-term and vacation rentals directly with the lodging provider, usually the owner of the property. Lodging providers are responsible for collecting all taxes due on lodging they arrange directly with customers.

After collecting tax from the renters, the short-term rental marketplace or lodging provider must forward tax as follows:

  • Forward Idaho sales tax and Travel and Convention tax on all rentals to the Tax Commission.
  • Forward applicable auditorium district tax on all rentals to the Tax Commission.
  • Forward any applicable local taxes (e.g., city sales taxes) on rentals to the Tax Commission or to the city in which the property is located.

This table shows examples of tax responsibility in different short-term rental scenarios:

Short-term or vacation rental scenariosWho’s responsible for collecting and forwarding the tax?
The property is in Idaho and both of these apply:

  • The lodging provider rents out the lodging directly to the customer without using a short-term rental marketplace.

  • The customer reserves the lodging and pays the lodging provider directly.

The lodging provider must register as a retailer to collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services.
The property is in Idaho and the lodging provider uses a short-term rental marketplace to arrange all rentals of the lodging.The short-term rental marketplace must register as a retailer, collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services.
The property is in Idaho, and the lodging is:

  • Sometimes rented directly from the lodging provider.

  • Sometimes rented through a short-term rental marketplace that arranges all rentals of the lodging.

The lodging provider and the short-term rental marketplace are responsible for taxes as follows:

  • The lodging provider must collect, report and forward tax on the sales price of lodging and related services on rentals they arrange.

  • The short-term rental marketplace must collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services arranged through its platform.

Lodging: Exempt Rentals

Lodging rentals involving certain government agencies, and qualifying organizations might be exempt.

Lodging rentals to certain government agencies and qualifying organizations

Only lodging rentals that are directly billed and paid by the federal government, Idaho state or local government, and qualifying organizations is exempt.

To rent lodging exempt, the buyer must complete and present one of these exemption certificates:

Note: Lodging is taxable if the employee pays and is reimbursed.

Lodging that religious organizations provide

Religious organizations can provide lodging rentals exempt if both of the following apply:

  • They use the proceeds of the lodging rentals only for the organization’s religious worship, education or recreation programs.
  • They offer the lodging only to members of the religious organization (e.g., it’s not available to the general public in regular competition with commercial businesses).

The religious organization doesn’t need attendees to fill out an exemption certificate, but it must keep records to show it met the exemption requirements.

Sales Not Related to Lodging

Many lodging providers make sales of property or services that aren’t related to lodging. For information about those sales, see the following guides:

Lodging: Buying Goods for Resale

You can buy exempt some of the things you use to sell lodging, other services and property.

Nontaxable goods

You don’t have to pay tax on goods you place in lodging, such as:

  • Facial tissue, toilet tissue and disposable laundry bags
  • Soap, lotion, shampoo and conditioner
  • Disposable drinking glasses, disposable utensils, shoe-shine cloths and shower caps
  • Stationery, envelopes, notepads and matches

Note: The goods must be included in the lodging charge, to be directly consumed by the customer in such a way that it can’t be reused.

You must give your vendor a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, to buy these goods exempt.

Taxable goods

Pay tax on items that are any of the following:

  • Not included in the lodging charge
  • Not directly used by the customer
  • Not disposable

Lodging: Filing Returns

Report and pay the lodging taxes using the correct form:

Sales

For Idaho state sales tax and other retail sales tax, use the customized Form 850 the Tax Commission sends you.

Travel and Convention

For the Travel and Convention tax, use the personalized Form 1152 the Tax Commission sends you.

Auditorium Districts

For auditorium district taxes, use the personalized form the Tax Commission sends you.

Currently, we administer the taxes for three auditorium districts:

Learn more from our Auditorium Districts guide.

City sales taxes

Report and pay city sales taxes directly to jurisdictions that charge them.